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MY BLIND CHILDREN’S FAIRY 
TALES 



SUNSHINE HOME FOR BLIND RABIES 




MY BLIND CHILDREN’S 

FAIRY TALES 


CYNTHIA M 





REGtEAR 


SUNSHINE HOME FOR BLIND BABIES 

84th Street and 13th Avenue, Dyker Heights 
BROOKLYN, N. Y. 


?z^ 

fAy 


LiBiifARY of CONeR^^ 
Two Oopies Received 

DEC 2 i90r 

^OosiyrljKni tntry 

Qi/f 

CLASS Cc XXc. NO. 


Copyright, 1907, by 

CYNTHIA M. TREGEAR 


THE BLIND BABIES 

“We always see things in terms of our 
past experience, and not as things actually 
are. The truths of our world are de- 
termined by what we see, but we for the 
most part see only those things which 
we can join to something in our line of 
experience. Other things do not exist 
for us. Their truths are not a part of 
our world. The brain is a changed 
organ after each sensation or perception. 
Any new perception must feel the re- 
flecting force of former perceptions. 

“A woman may apperceive a passing 
bird as an ornament to her bonnet; a 
fruit grower, as an insect killer; a poet, 
as a songster; an artist, as a fine bit of 
coloring and form. 

“There is a story of a boy who con- 
cealed himself in a tree and watched 
the passers. When one man remarked 


The Blind Babies 


to his friend what a fine stick of timber 
the tree would make, the boy said, 
‘Good morning, Mr. Carpenter.’ Soon 
another passer said, ‘That is good bark,’ 
‘Good morning, Mr. Tanner.’ Presently 
a young man remarked, ‘I’ll venture 
there’s a squirrel’s nest in that tree!’ 
‘Good morning, Mr. Hunter!’ In one 
sense those men saw exactly the same 
tree, had the same sensation of color and 
light from the same object; but from the 
way the men apperceived the tree, the 
boy was able to tell their leading voca- 
tions. ” — Halleck. 

If I take it upon myself to tell the 
friends of the blind something about blind 
babies, I do it, according to Halleck, in 
terms of my past experience. This ex- 
perience is that of a trained nurse who, 
for a number of years, has cared for 
mothers and infants, sick children and 
sick adults, the nervous and the insane. 


The Blind Babies 

aiul for seven years has had charoe of 

o 

})lind ba})ies. 

To these blind babies I have stood in 
a relation of more than paid nurse; for 
1 have taken a loving interest in these 
unfortunates who, without some special, 
intelligent and loving care, are “dead 
more than half,” as Milton puts it; to 
whom the world is 

. dark, dark, dark amid the blaze 
of noon. 

Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse. 

Without all hope of day.” 

1 have observed them with a view to 
finding out in what respects they are the 
'same as, and in what respects they differ 
from, seeing children, and accordingly 
require a different environment and a 
different training. 

They are the same as seeine; children 
in that they have the same physical needs 

7 


The Blind Babies 


as the seeing; the same need, if they are 
to be at all comfortable and happy, of 
healthy bodies and healthy bodily func- 
tions. The same conditions that insure 
health and vigor to the seeing child, viz., 
proper food, cleanliness, fresh air and 
sunlight, opportunities for bodily activity 
and an atmosphere of cheerfulness, are 
also necessary for the blind child. For 
both the end in view is so to equip them- 
selves for the struggle for existence as 
to get the greatest amount of comfort 
and happiness out of life which is com- 
patible with that struggle. But how dif- 
ferent are their points of departure! 

It must be remembered that we are 
comparing the blind baby with the av- 
erage normal infant. No sooner has the 
normal infant appeared upon the scene 
than his instincts begin to assert them- 
selves and he forthwith devotes himself 
to the task of growing and developing all 
his faculties by the aid of such means as 
8 


The Blind Babies 


nature and the average parent have pro- 
vided for this purpose. But the blind 
baby is handicapped from the start. 
He has lost nature's most powerful ally, 
and the average parent is unequal to 
coping with this circumstance. These 
are his drawbacks in a nutshell; let us 
look at them more closely. 

Only the smallest percentage of blind 
babies are born blind. Most of them 
meet with infection and become blind 
through ignorance and neglect. They 
begin life with pain and suffering. Often 
they are subjected to an operation when 
they are but a few months old and the 
eyes are entirely taken out. What wonder, 
then, that in the course of my experience 
I have met with blind babies six and 
seven months old who have never smiled! 
In their short lives they had known 
nothing but discomfort and pain, no ray 
of light — in every sense of the word — 
had entered it. They are sickly and frail. 


The Blind Babies 


Because they are blind few parents real- 
ize that their need of sunlight and air is 
just as great as that of the seeing child. 
Thus the unfortunates are deprived also 
of this source of health and strength — 
the birthright of every child — even in 
cases where utmost poverty does not pre- 
vent the parents from providing whole- 
some surroundings. 

Every person of any intelligence nowa- 
days realizes the great influence the mind 
exercises over the body. The devitalizing 
effect on all the organs and functions of 
the body of a depressed, worried, and 
strained mind, or that of a person who 
broods over his troubles, physical or 
otherwise, is very well known. Has any 
one ever considered that even an infant 
can be affected in this way and be re- 
tarded in his growth and development ? 

All the blind babies that 1 have had 
any experience with were physically very 
far from normal when I first took charge 
10 


The Blind Babies 


of them. Almost all were undersized 
and puny, as the following memoranda 
that I made of the respective ages and 
weights of some of them may show. 
C., boy, nine months old, eleven and one- 
half pounds; L., boy, one year old, seven- 
teen pounds; V., girl, eight months old, 
eleven pounds; C., boy, fourteen months 
old, fourteen and one-half pounds; H., 
girl, eleven months old, eleven and one- 
half pounds; M., girl, seven months old, 
seven and one-half pounds ; same, twenty- 
three months old, seventeen pounds; K., 
girl, eleven months old, fourteen and 
one-half pounds; W., boy, two months 
old, four and one-half pounds; A., boy, 
three months old, nine pounds. All had 
weak digestive organs, and some were 
nothing but a bundle of sensitive, irritable 
nerves. All were unhappy, uncomforta- 
ble little creatures whose cry was but a 
wail of sadness and despair and they were 
inactive and lifeless. If they were old 


11 


The Blind Babies 


enough to realize that there was some- 
thing wrong with them, that something 
was withheld from them, and that the 
seat of this imperfection was the eyes, 
they began to rub and punch their eyes, 
shake their hands in front of them, and 
sit for hours doing just this and swaying 
their bodies to and fro. It was distressing 
to see them, it gave them an aspect of 
imbecility, and one could not help fear- 
ing that these habits would become a 
mania and would seriously cripple their 
mental faculties. Undoubtedly there is 
great danger of this if these unfortunate 
children are left to themselves and are 
not kept amused and interested in some- 
thing outside of themselves. 

If the fact of blindness with its con- 
comitant ills thus handicaps a baby’s 
physical development from the start, 
how much smaller must its chances be 
for normal mental development ? A 
healthy seeing baby, even if little or no 
U 


The Blind Babies 


attention is paid to him, will learn to 
speak, acquire in the course of time a 
tolerably accurate knowledge of the world 
about him, and will spontaneously un- 
fold his mental faculties, as a plant will 
unfold its leaves and flowers. But what 
is a blind baby, blind practically from 
birth, and rendered apathetic through 
physical suffering and weakness, to learn 
of a world it can never see ? Unless 
special and infinite pains are taken to 
educate his sense of touch and with the 
aid of this sense to interpret his other 
sense impressions for him, even sound 
must remain meaningless, and language 
a sealed book. 

Professor William James tells us, in 
his “Talks to Teachers on Psychology,’’ 
of the law of transitoriness of instinct, 
by which he means that many impulsive 
tendencies ripen at a certain age and 
then fade away. He says: “In children 
we observe a ripening of impulses and 
13 


The Blind Babies 


interests in a certain determinate order. 
Creeping, walking, climbing, imitating 
vocal sounds, constructing, drawing, cal- 
culating possess the child in succession. 
. . . Later the interest in any one of these 
things may wholly fade away. Of course, 
the proper pedagogic moment to work 
skill in, and to clinch the useful habit, is 
when the native impulse is most acutely 
present.” 

If this is true, how much more closely 
than a seeing child must a blind child 
be watched and observed in order to de- 
tect the happy moment of awakened in- 
terest and impulse in any direction. The 
seeing child will follow his impulse and 
form a habit on “half a chance,” so to 
speak. The blind child has to be drawn 
out and assisted in every step he takes. 
How many irretrievable losses must come 
to him from the inability of parents and 
nurses to understand or cope with his 
special needs! 


14 


The Blind Babies 


1 have known twelve blind babies in 
a room together, of all ages, from four 
months to two years, and continually to- 
gether for weeks and months, paying no 
attention to each other, and as perfectly 
indifferent to each other’s existence as 
though they had been blocks of wood. 
It took from nine months to a year before 
they could be made to become interested 
in and play with each other. But I have 
also lived to see this same sickly, dejected, 
listless and lifeless little company become 
firm of flesh, clear skinned, rosy and 
active, and altogether as comfortable, 
happy, wide-awake, and well-behaved 
little tots as one could wish to see. 

It is slow work. There are no rapid 
gains in the first year of a blind baby’s 
life. But when a blind baby has lived in 
a good home for about a year, has had 
plenty of fresh air and sunshine and 
loving care, has been sung to and talked 
to and played with in such a manner as 
15 


The Blind Babies 


to arouse his interest in the objects within 
his reach, his progress is marked. If 
there are no other organic drawbacks 
he will then become a healthy, active child, 
despite his blindness. And unless such a 
foundation has been laid, in what con- 
dition will the teacher receive the blind 
child when he has reached the Kinder- 
garten or school age ? In order that a 
child may be able to do good work in a 
school it is certainly necessary that he en- 
ter the schoolroom a cheerful, happy child, 
“running over” with energy and activity. 

When I entered upon my work with 
the blind babies I did not expect it to be 
so much like hospital work. But al- 
though it has been uphill and often very 
discouraging I have taken great comfort 
in it and loved it. Whatever success I 
have had, this is the greatest which I 
have been able to record in my diary: 
“now our playroom rings with laughter 
and the clatter of little feet at play.” 

16 


INTRODUCTION TO THE 
FAIRY TALES 


In offering this small collection of 
original fairy tales and stories told to 
me by the blind children in the Kinder- 
garten Home of the International Sun- 
shine Branch for the Blind, 1 can only 
say that I hope that they will entertain 
you as much as they entertained me. 

Some of the stories were told when the 
children gathered about my chair asking 
me for a story and giving me in return 
a story all their own. Others were told 
in the Kindergarten when “we went to 
Fairyland.” But the grand time of all 
for story-telling was the summer vacation 
when the boys dressed in overalls and 
the girls in rompers, and spent the morn- 

B 17 


Introduction to the 


ing playing in the sand at the beach, and 
the early afternoon playing games on 
the green, or gathering the never to be 
forgotten “Bounce Betts.” 

How the children shouted with joy 
when the little whistle blew to tell them 
to make ready for the story hour. Little 
heads popped up from all around the 
grounds and little feet started; some ran 
in their eagerness to be the first to show 
the treasures found on the beach, or the 
bunch of pretty flowers. Then there was 
the scramble for the wash-room and 
later one by one they appeared on the 
piazza looking “spick an’ span.” (We 
shall say nothing about the boy who for- 
got to comb his back hair, and the other 
fellow who wet his hair so much that 
the water ran down his face in streams.) 
Each boy and girl walked proudly out on 
the piazza, and helped himself to an old 
magazine or book and sat in a little chair 
just his own size, or, if he preferred, sat 
18 


Fairy Tales 


on the floor and crossed his legs and 
“played read.” 

The stories spun out by the yard! I 
found them so interesting, after a time, 
that it at last occurred to me to preserve 
some of them. What fun we had “play- 
ing read”! We all laughed at the funny 
stories and said nice things about the 
pretty ones. 

Sometimes we “played library,” and 
sat “prim and proper” around the table, 
book in hand, and played read until we 
heard the supper bell. After supper the 
boys and girls found their own way up- 
stairs and undressed themselves and went 
to bed like other folks. Such a buzz of 
little voices; and the prayers, — shall we 
ever forget them ? There was the Hebrew 
boy standing by his bed saying the prayer 
his mother had taught him, and there 
was the face of little Cornelius as he knelt 
beside his bed with his hands clasped 
saying : 


19 


Introduction to the 


“Our Father Who art in Heaven, 
Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom 
come. Thy will be done on earth, As it 
is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily 
bread. And forgive us our sins, As we 
forgive those who trespass against us. 
And lead us not into temptation; But de- 
liver us from evil: For thine is the king- 
dom, and the power, and the glory, for ever 
and ever. Amen. 

“God bless Alfred [the colored man], 
our pet dog Buster, Mr. and Mrs. Alden, 
Mrs. Beattie and our little friend Mary. 
God bless everybody in the whole world. 
Atnen.” 

Then from the other corner of the room 
Robert could be heard saying: 

“Now 1 lay me down to sleep, 

I pray the Lord my soul to keep. 

If I should die before I wake, 

I pray the Lord my soul to take. 


Fairy Tales 


“ (lod bless father and mother. God 
bless me and make me a good boy. 
Dear God, please make my eyes strong, 
and please make mother’s headache 
stronger and mother’s toothache strong. 
Amen.” 

Then there was the prayer of the little 
Bandmaster. It always ended: “And 
please make every little eye well.” 

By eight o’clock all the little children 
were fast asleep, and they slept quietly 
till six o’clock in the morning. 

By seven o’clock they had all washed 
and dressed and were ready for breakfast. 
Soon after the musical gong called them 
to the dining room, their voices could be 
heard saying in unison: 

“To-day has come and 1 
In this new day will try 
To do with earnest mind 
Whatever work I find. 

^21 


Introduction to the Fairy Tales 

In all my work and play, 

I’ll do my best to-day, 

In gentleness to speak. 

For others’ joy to seek. 

And all the whole day long 
I’ll try with purpose strong. 

To keep my spirit true. 

And deeds of love to do.” 

I have tried to set down accurately 
the language of the children as it fell 
from their lips, regardless of grammatical 
or other errors. 

C. M. T. 


22 


“In the nature of the soul is the compensation for 
the inequalities of condition. The radical tragedy of 
nature seems to be the distinction of More and Less. 
How can Less not feel the pain; how not feel indigna- 
tion or malevolence towards More? Look at those 
who have less faculty, and one feels sad and knows not 
well what to make of it. He almost shuns their eye; 
he fears they will upbraid God. What should they do ? 
It seems a great injustice. But see the facts nearly and 
these mountainous inequalities vanish. Love reduces 
them as the sun melts the iceberg in the sea. The heart 
and soul of all men being one, this bitterness of His 
and Mine ceases. His is mine. I am my brother and 
my brother is me.” — Emerson. 



WHEN 'PHE MTTLE W^HISTLE ]iLEW 




MY BLIND CHILDREN’S 
FAIRY TALES 

STORIES BY RACHEL 

thp: littlp: fairy in blitp: 

I saw a little fairy dressed in blue and 
she wore a yellow pin. She went out and 
found a little fairy girl and she gave her 
roses and buttercups. They gave her 
some flowers to bring home. 

THE PWIRA" AND THP] BIRDS 

Once upon a time there was a little 
fairy who went to see the birds every 
afternoon. The birds sang songs to 
the fairy, and the fairy sang to the 
birds. 


My Blmd Children s 


thp: little ant 

Once there was a little girl and she 
was trying to catch some little ants. She 
asked her mother to help her; they found 
an ant and they looked at him and then 
let him go. The little girl said, “ The ants 
are nice little people!” 


A FAIRY STORY 

\ little fairy was walking through a 
park and she found a very poor lady, and 
she gave her some money. Then the 
lady got a carpenter to build her a green 
house. The little fairy came and lived 
with the lady. 

A fairy bird came and flew into a cage 
that was hanging in the room, and when 
they heard it sing they were surprised — 
they could not tell what it was. The bird 
said: “Chirp, chirp, chirp!” and they 
looked into the cage and there was the 
26 


Fairy Tales 


bird. They named the bird Fairy Rol)in. 
He was very friendly. 

Here is a picture of the fairy girl and 
she is feeding the little bird from her hand. 
The bird has a kind of brown breast and 
all the other part of him is white and 
yellow. The fairy dressed in the same 
colors so that she would look pretty 
like the bird. 


^7 


My Blind Children's 


STORIES BY ABRAHAM 

A FAIRY GARDP:N 

Once there was a big garden with a 
fence around it. Roses were on the 
bushes and violets were down in the grass 
and maple leaves were on the trees. The 
flowers said, “Here is the house where 
we all live.’’ The flowers were very 
happy. The morning glories said good 
morning to the roses and all the flowers 
said good morning to each other. 

One day they had a nice party and 
they were all very happy to have the roses 
and daffy-dills there. 

THE birds’ voyage 

Twenty-five little birds flew into a 
little ship and sailed across the water to 
28 


Fairy Tales 


another country. When they reached 
land they flew out of the ship to a hollow 
tree where a squirrel lived. They said 
good morning to the squirrel. The 
squirrel said, “Do you like nuts, little 
birds and the birds answered, “Yes, a 
little.” And the squirrels said, “Will 
you have some nuts to eat.^” and the 
birds all said, “No, I thank you.” Then 
they all flew back to their boat and sailed 
away across the water to their own 
country. 


^29 




My Blind Childretd.s 





GIVING ME A STORY ALL THEIR OWN 



Fairy Tales 


STORIES BY ANNIE PAVIA 

A FAIRY STORY 

When I went to fairyland I saw a little 
fairy sitting in a little chair on a tree. 
She was playing school with the birds. 


IN FAIRYLAND 

What did I see in fairyland ? Well, I 
saw fairies, Italian fairies! They were 
shinning up the moon. 


A LITTLE LADY GIRL 

Once there was a little lady girl dressed 
in yellow and red. She went walking, 
and I met her on her way. She said, 
“Do you want Daffy-down-dillies ” 

31 


My Blind Children s 


THE FAIRY AND THP: PRINCP: 

Once upon a time there was a little 
fairy and a little prince, and the prince 
lived in a palace. The prince said to the 
fairy, “Wouldn’t you like to go with me 
for a walk.?” The fairy was pleased to 
go, and they went to a small garden of 
white roses. The fairy said, “Isn’t this 
a nice garden The flowers are all 
in bloom because they have been well 
cared for. The prince said, “Now we 
will go away from the garden so that the 
flowers will get plenty of fresh air.” 

One day while the little fairy girl was 
walking she again went to the prince’s 
palace, and said: “I want to go and see 
the poor people.” So they went. And 
what do you think she did for the poor ? 
She planted a nice garden for them. The 
prince helped her to rake the earth and 
make it nice and soft. They took out 
all the stones, and then they planted the 
32 


Fairy Tales 

seed. The flowers grew and they made 
the people very happy. That is what 
beautiful hands can do. The fairy went 
home to her grandmother so she cannot 
be a fairy any more. 

A LITTLE BOY AND GIRL 

A little boy and girl lived together. 
They were brother and sister. These 
little children liked to walk and have a 
nice time with other little children. They 
were not selfish a bit. The little boy’s 
name was Lawrence and the little girl’s 
name was Mary. They were very kind 
and sweet. 

They went to play with three little 
playmates. They lived in a warm coun- 
try. They hadn’t any trees, but a little 
tree had started to grow. 

They picked flowers with honey in, 
and they said: “We will get a dish from 
mother, and a spoon. ” And they played 
33 


c 


My Blind Children s 


that they put all the honey in the dish. 
They played that their little friend could 
not get the honey because she was too 
little. The little girl wore a dark red 
dress. They said; “Let our little visitor 
take anything she likes but the honey.” 
She was like Baby Josephine, so she was 
too little to eat honey. 

THE FAIRY GIRL 

A little girl was looking in the water 
for pretty red sea-flowers. She was only 
a sunflower, but she thought she was a 
little girl. She said, “ I will not be selflsh,” 
so she swam out and got a pretty sea- 
flower for the children. 

The little sunflower looked far out over 
the water and saw a little girl and a lady. 
And she said that she would like to take 
them to fairyland and treat them to ice 
cream. The little fairy sunflower said: 
“These people are very nice, it would 
34 


Fairy Tales 


please me to treat them/’ The sunflower 
came up out of the water and took you 
and I to fairyland. She asked if we 
wouldn’t like some pie, and we thanked 
her. The pie was made out of fairy 
blackberries. 


MY VISIT TO FAIRYLAND 

When I went to fairyland, a little fairy 
gave me ice cream — she made little chairs 
out of flowers, and she put them in the 
flower room. When the mamma fairy 
was out the baby was very happy and 
sang and made pretty things. 

The children made a pretty flower 
window. They were sweeping and clean- 
ing the floor of the flower room. The 
fairies bowed to me and said, “Good 
morning.” 


85 


I 


My Blmd CJiildreri s 



I 


LITTLE BANDMASTER 




Fairy Tales 


S rORIES BY ( ORNELIUS 


MY TRIP TO FAIRYLAND 

1 went to fairyland with the birds. 
J lived with the fairies every day and they 
took me to their beach to play. The 
fairies gave me flowers and I brought 
some home. 


THE WOLF-MAN 

A lady was living in an ice palace, 
and a man came and gave her a pound 
of meat, and the lady was cooking a 
dinner, and a big fairy came along, and 
the big wolf-man came along and hit the 
fairy and she turned into candy. 


37 


My Blind Children s 


STORIES BY WILLIAM M. 

THE FAIRY BIRD 

I saw a fairy bird. He was flying 
through the air; he flew on the heads of 
the fairies, and the fairies laughed. The 
fairies liked it and told the bird to do it 
again, but the bird flew away. 

THE FAIRY BABY 

I saw a little tiny fairy baby in a fairy 
cradle and the fairy mamma was rocking 
it to sleep. I saw a bird flying in the air 
and I saw a dog in fairyland, and he went 
out in the water and was swimming 
around. I saw a frog; he could not talk, 
but he could move around in the water. 
The frog was playing in the water with 
the dog. The bird flew away and the 
dog wanted to catch it, but could not. 


38 


Fairy Tales 


STORY BY WILLIAM K. 


A FAIRY MAN 

Once I saw a fairy man and he built 
a house out of shell, and after the house 
was all built he made a chimney out of 
shell for Santa to come down. Then he 
made shell furniture. He made a heater 
out of stones, and he made a stone porch 
and he put gas on the porch. 

He made chains out of grass and hung 
them on the house and about the windows. 


89 


My Blind Children s 


STORIES BY ROBERT 

THE WILD FAIRY 

Once there was a fairy and he lived 
in a cottage, and he was very wild. One 
day he went out and found a long snake 
and he cut his lung out. Then the fairy 
ran back home and left the snake laying 
there. 


A FISH STORY 

A little fairy went fishing and caught 
a fish, but when he went to weigh it he 
found that he had forgotten his scales; 
so he went home for it, then came back 
and weighed the fish and put him 
back in the water. Wasn’t he a good 
fairy ? 


40 


Fairy Tales 


A PIG STORY 

Once there was a mother pig and she 
had two little baby pigs. She told them 
to go out and build their own little house. 
Their house had a basement, hall, stairs, 
and a bedroom and window. The house 
stood on a hill. 

The first little pig asked for some bricks 
to make a house with. He was given only 
five bricks and that only made a parlor 
and window and a door. In this room 
they slept and ate and everything. 

Then came a wolf and he wanted to 
get in and eat them up, but could not. 
The wolf got killed by a big iron ball 
that fell on him, and the pigs lived happy 
ever after. 


THE TURTLE 

Once there lived a big lazy turtle and 
then there lived a little fish in a little hole 


41 


My Blind Children s / 

and another little fish. And then another 
little turtle and another one. And then 
there lived four little bullfrogs. 

The big turtle was very lazy, and would 
not move a bit. Then the little fish said, 
“If you don’t move, some one will catch 
you.” The other little fish tried to move 
him, but the turtle got mad and kicked. 
Then the little turtle that was near the 
fish got on top of the big turtle, but could 
not make him go. Then the four frogs 
got an idea and whispered it to the little 
turtle that was near to the little turtle 
that got on top of the big lazy turtle. 
This little turtle said that they should 
all move to-morrow morning and leave 
the big lazy turtle there. If he did not 
go, he would see what would happen to 
him. 

So next morning the bullfrogs got up 
at four o’clock, and woke up the two 
little turtles and then they went over and 
got up the two little fishes and they all 


Fairy Tales 


tried to get up the big turtle, but he would 
not move. Then they said, “You’ll see 
what will happen.” So they all moved 
in their car and left the big lazy turtle 
in the same hole behind them. 


43 


My Blind (liildrens 



WHAT FUN WK HAD PLAYING READ 



Fairy Tales 


STORIES BY OLIVE 


A CAT STORY 

Three little mice went to the door and 
they saw a cat with such a funny face 
on him that they ran away. This made 
the cat very sorry, so he asked the birds 
to make him into a bird. 


THE STORY OF A FROG 

A frog had on his best fur coat and 
everybody laughed at the frog. He did 
not like the sunshine and he did not 
like the summer. He was just a plain 
frog who wanted to do nothing. He 
would not walk around or run about. 
One day a man came along and stole 
him. 


45 


My Blind Children s 


THE FAIRY ANIMALS 

The fairy dog always bought some- 
thing for the fairy cat, and the fairy cat 
always liked the fairy dog, and when he 
went away they said good-bye. 

Then a fairy pig came and gave the 
horse something to eat, and he stayed a 
little longer than the fairy cat. The 
fairy horse stayed until the fairy lamb 
came. Then they all went away and there 
were no more animals in fairyland. 


A FAIRY STORY 

A fairy lived away out in the country 
by himself. But he did not like the coun- 
try very much, so he went to the city, 
where he got no fresh air. An Indian girl 
came to the fairy and said, “How do 
you do.^” and she went away and got 
three packages of balls — she got nine 
balls, and gave them to the fairy. When 
46 


Fairy Tales 


the girl gave the nine l)alls she took ofi* 
a feather and put on a new one. Every 
time she took off a red feather she put 
on a blue feather and made herself look 
funny. She had a white feather mixed 
in with the red and blue. 

THE FAIRY HEN 

A fairy hen went out into the woods 
to pick up chips and to get something to 
eat. She did not like to stay in the woods 
very much, so when she got through 
picking up chips she came back to fairy- 
land. 

She played the piano and a fairy duck 
came to see her. And a fairy hen came 
with her chickens to call on the fairy 
hen. Then she fed the chickens and put 
them all to bed, because she was going 
to bed herself. Then a fairy came and 
said, “How do you do.^^” And the fairy 
went away, and the hens said to the 
47 


My Blind Children s 


chickens, “Go to sleep,” and they went 
to sleep and slept till morning. 

FAIRY KIND 

K fairy boy and girl went around the 
whole world selling papers with stories 
in them about little fairies and lambs. 

A fairy went around the whole world 
taking the people and putting them in 
her house, giving them something to eat. 
She even gave the birds something. Then 
she said to her mother, “Look at what 
I have done,” and her mother was pleased. 

Then the people all went away and 
the birds flew to their nests. The next 
day she took them away from their own 
homes and gave them very nice homes, 
and they all thanked the fairy. 

This fairy was called Fairy Kind, and 
all the people liked her so much they all 
gave her a gold watch and chain. So 
she had so many watches she hardly 
48 


Fairy Tales 


knew what to do. Even the little worms 
had been given a house by themselves 
and they gave her a gold watch and chain, 
and a gold ring with three diamonds and 
a blue stone in it. And Fairy Kind kept 
this gift for years and years. When her 
little girl grew up and didn’t break things 
she gave it to her. She gave all the nice 
things to her, and the little girl kept them 
until she grew old; then she gave them 
to another little girl who kept them and 
cared for them even better than she had. 


D 


49 




s 



THE NEVER-TO-BE-FORGOTTEN BOUNCE BETTS 






Fairy Tales 


STORIES BY EMMA 

A MAY FAIRY TALE 

Once upon a time there were fairy 
birds in Fairyland and they were chang- 
ing their clothes, putting on jeweled 
rings. When they went out all the fairies 
said, “What lovely birds those are, all 
dressed up, getting ready for June.” 
The June fairies came and danced with 
the blind children. 


STORY OF THE INSECTS 

A little girl was sitting in the grass 
and all the insects came and sat by her 
and played with her. The bees gave her 
honey. The next day the little girl came 
out again and brought little boxes with 
her filled with food for the insects, so 


51 


My Blind Children s 


the insects came and got into the boxes. 
There was a box for tlie bees and it was 
filled with fiowers. Grass was in the 
box for the grasshoppers. After a time 
all the insects wanted to go home, so 
the little girl let them all out and they 
went away; and that was the end of the 
story. 

THE BOY FAIRY 

Once there was a boy fairy and he 
lived upon a leaf. He made his house 
on the leaf and he made windows to his 
house all of leaves. He found a poor, 
sick fairy and he took him to his home, 
and when Christmas came Santa sent 
him a great deal of money. Then he 
was very rich and he took good care of 
sick fairies. Once his house blew away, 
so he made a house on a vine. He made 
it out of peanut shells. The worms 
on the vine grew up and turned into 
fairies. 

5^2 


Fclirij Tales 


A FAIRY DOLL 

Once upon a time a girl had a little 
fairy doll and she could talk, walk, and 
go downstairs, and she could take care 
of the other dolls. The mother wrote 
to Santa Claus to bring her a dolFs house 
for Christmas. One day this little doll 
put her house on the stoop. Every 
morning the doll got up early and one 
morning she found a little doll at the door 
of the doll’s house. 


A littlp: girl 

A little girl was sitting in a high chair 
near a window, making clothes for her 
doll. When she grew up, she taught 
little girls to sew, and they grew to be 
very nice, good little girls. Then a 
great giant came and gave her a big 
bag of money for being so good to little 
girls. 


.58 


My Blind Children s 

THE FAIRY BEES 

When 1 went to fairyland I saw fairy 
buzzing bees, and the fairies played 
with them. Every day the bees went 
out and gathered honey and gave it to 
the fairies, and they made ice cream out 
of it. 

The fairies went to see where the bees 
got the honey, and they turned the fairies 
into bees. The fairies made dolls out 
of flowers, and they made cake out of 
the honey from roses. The bees turned a 
little piece of honey into a little fairy, 
and they made her a golden cradle out 
of flowers. 


A BABY FAIRY 

I saw a little baby fairy making a 
little heart out of grass, and she was 
also making a little cradle out of golden- 
rod. She picked too many flowers, so 
54 


Fairy Tales 


she made some of them into fairies. 
One day she took some water and let 
it freeze, and next day it was turned 
into jelly, so she put some honey in it 
and made it sweet. She picked some 
flowers and made chairs out of them. 
She made dishes and spoons out of shells. 
She made hearts out of shell and put one 
on all of the fairies. And out of some 
honey she made rubbers, shoes, and 
gloves. And the fairies all went to a 
picnic. They went early and took their 
dancing slippers. 

A FAIRY bird’s EGG 

A long time ago a little girl found an 
egg of a fairy bird. She kept it warm 
and the little bird hatched out. The 
fairy girl cared for it and fed it every 
day. Then the little girl went across 
the water and she turned into a real 
little girl. Fairies never go out of fairy- 
55 


My Blind Children’s 

land without they want to be turned into 
people that live on the earth. At first 
the little girl spoke only fairy language, 
but when she was five or six years old 
she learned to speak as we do, and she 
was the sweetest little girl her aunt ever 
had. 


THE FAIRY BABY 

When I went to fairyland I saw a 
little fairy and she lived in a little house 
made of flowers. She made a cradle 
out of golden-rod. One night when she 
went to bed a little fairy came and slept 
in the cradle. The fairy heard crying- 
in the night, and when she looked there 
was the fairy baby in the golden cradle. 
The fairy fed her every morning, she fed 
her with fairy food. One day she took 
her to a friend’s house to a party. They 
arrived just in time. They had ice cream 
and cake. The fairies made the ice cream 


56 


Fairy T ales 


out of honey from different kinds of 
flowers. After the ice cream they had 
a dance and march. They had such a 
good time they wanted to stay all night. 


STORY OF A LITTLE BOY AND GIRL 

A little boy and girl lived together in 
the same house. They had a box of 
morning glories growing outside their 
window. The flowers were very beautiful. 
One morning they heard some one knock- 
ing at the window and when they looked 
there stood a little fairy. She was dressed 
to look like the flower of the morning 
glory. The children loved the little 
fairy, so she came often to see them. 
She felt sorry for the children. One 
day she came and turned two of the 
morning glory flowers into a father and 
mother for the little boy and girl. 


57 



THE LITTLE BLIND GIRLS GATHERING FLOWERS 


Fairy Tales 


NOTE 

The little Story-Tellers no longer live at the 
old Cropsey Homestead at Bensonhurst, but we 
often visit the place. Sometimes we take a lunch 
and spend the day. Often the children ask, with 
tears in their eyes, why we moved away from the 
dear old house. I have tried to explain that we 
did not own the old house, and that it was our 
home only for one summer, but they ask, “Why 
don’t we own it ? We lived there. ” “ Yes,” said 

Cornelius, “and we had a big, hig playroom for 
rainy days, and a nice big schoolroom, and we 
could hear the rain patter on the roof.” Annie P. 
says that she “liked Bensonhurst best of all be- 
cause the flowers and the birds seem so happy.” 
And there was always space in the playroom for 
the dolls’ bureau, and the dolls’ walnut bed- 
stead, and the girls could “ play lady ” every day. 
Each child has his or her own reason for liking 
59 


My Blind Children s 


the old Bensonhurst house. Annie B. says, “ (3h, 
it was lovely at the beach ! The water came 
swimming up to me.” 

The blind babies have a beautiful new home 
at Dyker Heights, but the children have never 
been quite happy here, because the schoolroom 
is too small and we have no playroom. I tell 
them that our new home is really very pretty and 
that our friends are all working to pay for it. 
Harold said, “ I know it is nice because my great- 
grandmother said so.” And the little Band- 
master said that his mother liked our new home 
very much. 

“Well, children,” I said, “some day we may 
find some kind person to help us build a new 
playroom and a new schoolroom, and then I 
think we shall all be very happy.” The children 
were eating supper, and to my surprise the boys 
all shouted, “ We’ll help to build the play- 
room ! ” 

And when I wanted to know how much little 
boys could help at such big work, the Bandmaster 
said that he could carry the boards to the car- 
penter and Harold said that he would hand the 
carpenter the saws and the hammer and nails, 
60 


Fairy Tales 

and “Captain” said that he would “help a 
whole lot.” 

By this time they had become so excited that 
I had to call them to order. As soon as I could 
make myself heard, I said: “Now, boys and girls, 
don’t get so excited; we shall not be able to have 
a playroom right away. We shall have to wait 
until we get the money, before the builder will 
send the carpenters here. “Oh!” said Cornelius, 
“I will give him all of my money and if there is 
any left you may have it.” “Well, Cornelius, 
how much money have you ? ” I asked. He 
thought a moment and then said : “ Well, I don’t 
know, but the last time my mother was here she 
gave me twenty-five cents.” “ Captain ” said, 
“You may have my money,” and Harold shouted, 
“ My money is up stairs in a little bag and when 
you go up you get it!” The Bandmaster said: 
“My father has money and when I go home I 
will ask him for some. Why!” he exclaimed, 
“when I went home my father had a dollar the 
day we went to the candy store.” Then little 
Rachel stood up at the end of the table and said : 
“Here, Mother Tregear, you may have my 
penny.” 


61 


My Blind Children s 


I told this story to a friend and she said: 
“I bet they get the playroom.’’ “Well,” I 
said, “ we shall see what can be done. I cannot 
be as generous as my boys and give all I have, 
but I will give the money from the sale of ‘ My 
Blind Children’s Fairy Tales.’ ” 


C. M. T. 


Fairy Tale,s 



LITTLE H ACHE I 




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